Bwah-hahaha! This is fabulous!!
>Copyright: your number's up
>
>By FERGUS SHIEL
>Thursday 4 October 2001
>
>Tonal: Jon Drummond, left, and Nigel Helyer.
>
> Listen up, they've got your number. Australian composers Nigel
>Helyer, aka Dr Sonique, and Jon Drummond have copyrighted
>100,000,000,000 telephone tone sequences.
>
>You might not know it but every time you dial a number, you play a
>short melody.
>
>With the aid of a computer, Helyer and Drummond have notated the
>tones of every imaginable phone number combination and, in turn,
>claimed the melodies as their own. Next time you make a phone call,
>therefore, chances are you'll be in breach of international copyright
>law.
>
>If business can claim ownership over the elemental building blocks of
>human life, the composers say it's only fitting that artists lay
>claim to the "DNA" of business and are paid for it.
>
>"We're saying to (big business), 'Okay guys, the boot is on the other
>foot. If you really believe in copyright, you've got to pay'," Helyer
>says.
>
>"I think Mr Howard will be high on the list. Universities. Lots of
>corporations. We'll go for it."
>
>The composers say their Magnus-Opus is a playful way of lampooning
>copyright laws that protect big business rather than artists.
>
>You can check your home, work, mobile, fax or modem number against
>their compositional database by logging on to www.magnus-opus.com.
>
>If your number is matched, the melody will be played, the notes
>scored and a direction given to complete the licence agreement
>supplied online as soon as possible.
>
>Helyer and Drummond, who've only just launched the website, say
>they've had one offer of payment already. "An American guy tired of
>direct sales people calling him has told us he'd like to purchase the
>copyright for his number so that he can stop them," Helyer says.
>
>The website explains in greater detail how the composers went about
>their creation by throwing 16 tone pairs into an algorithmic
>generation to produce countless melodies.
>
>"The whole telecommunications system is entirely musicalised," Helyer
>says.
>
>
>•Magnus-Opuswill be installed at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts
>next year.
>
>http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/2001/10/04/FFX0PGT0CSC.html
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